Making a mold of something?

FlatFender

FlatFender

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Say I wanted to make a mold of the inside of a pistol magazine, what would be the best way to do it? I need the end product to be fairly durable plastic, but my initial hurdle is getting a mold of the inside of the magazine that can be removed without breaking the magazine.

Thoughts?
 
Back in my QC days we used reprorubber to make a internal print of parts that couldn't be measured otherwise. It is fairly expensive but holds the exact shape.
 
Wolffy;n65907 said:
Back in my QC days we used reprorubber to make a internal print of parts that couldn't be measured otherwise. It is fairly expensive but holds the exact shape.
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I was just thinking of silicone; pour it in, let it set, pull it out. It'll be durable but not rigid. Not sure what other pourable materials are inexpensive, durable, and readily available.
 
I know you dont want to damage the mag, but what if you picked one up for cheap and then cut it down the middle so you could do each half and then put the halves together?
 
HMP;n66070 said:
I know you dont want to damage the mag, but what if you picked one up for cheap and then cut it down the middle so you could do each half and then put the halves together?
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Are there better options for things I could make the mold with if I did it this way?
 
Pour in latex (like for halloween masks). Pack it with Sugru (silicone caulk and cornstarch). These options will give you a soft reverse copy, then you can make a two piece mold of plaster of Paris. What are you trying to do?
 
bigfutz;n66197 said:
Pour in latex (like for halloween masks). Pack it with Sugru (silicone caulk and cornstarch). These options will give you a soft reverse copy, then you can make a two piece mold of plaster of Paris. What are you trying to do?
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One of the big problems I have with my dryfire practice is dropping magazines with dummy rounds on the garage floor. When they hit the floor, the dummy rounds pop out of the magazine and I spend half my dryfire time chasing dummy rounds across the garage.

What I'm wanting to do is make a weighted mold of the inside of the magazine that I can install with a spring that will act just like a mag full of dummy rounds, but it wont fly out like individual dummy rounds will.
 
mckenziedrums;n66784 said:
Uh... Call me a caveman but will the magazines seat with tape over them? Toss a piece of strapping tape on it to hold the dummy rounds in...
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I doubt it, but man I'd be pissed if that's all it takes.
 
Took two junk mags that I was going to toss in the trash and filled one completely with fiberglass resin, and the other with 10 dummy rounds, and then poured in the fiberglass resin.

I'll try extracting the cured resin tomorrow and see what I've got.
 
mckenziedrums;n66794 said:
Take the spring out, add weights... I dunno, gotta be an easier way. You an engineer by chance? If not you missed your calling ;)
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I'm a redneck. We're like engineers but we can't do math.

The thing is, adding weights sounds easy, but I also need to preserve the top of the magazine feeding into the magwell, so it needs to be somewhat bullet shaped at the top.
 
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You could try spreading grease of some kind on the inside of the magazine and the filling it with plaster of paris. Then you can use that to make a mold for just about anything.
 
Couldn't you just lay a piece of foam on the garage floor big enuff to catch the mags so they don't hit the floor? That would lend a little protection to the mags and keep them from getting damaged by hitting the floor and maybe stop the dummies from popping out.
 
If you cast a material to the inside of a mag, and can successfully remove it, you'll be left with something that is smaller in cross section than a mag because of the wall thickness of the mag body. It won't fit the mag well the same way a real mag does and, more importantly, won't have the recess for the match catch.

I have a couple of those cheapo Korean mags that have 10 dummy rounds in them, with the last 3-4 rounds glued together. They don't pop out.


ETA: Try this? http://www.glockstore.com/Glock-Practice-Magazine or http://www.alternateforce.net/ber92fmag.html
 
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trcubed;n67075 said:
If you cast a material to the inside of a mag, and can successfully remove it, you'll be left with something that is smaller in cross section than a mag because of the wall thickness of the mag body. It won't fit the mag well the same way a real mag does and, more importantly, won't have the recess for the match catch.

I have a couple of those cheapo Korean mags that have 10 dummy rounds in them, with the last 3-4 rounds glued together. They don't pop out.


ETA: Try this? http://www.glockstore.com/Glock-Practice-Magazine or http://www.alternateforce.net/ber92fmag.html
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The idea is for it to stay inside the magazine. After consulting some friends I think I'm onto something, just need to play with the idea a little more. The molds I made were unnecessary, I carved a piece of pine into the right shape in about 15minutes that's working as a prototype.
 
Schattenreiter;n67065 said:
Couldn't you just lay a piece of foam on the garage floor big enuff to catch the mags so they don't hit the floor? That would lend a little protection to the mags and keep them from getting damaged by hitting the floor and maybe stop the dummies from popping out.
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I usually drop my mags into an office chair I've got in the garage, but it's no good for moving reloads where the mags don't always drop in the exact spot.
 
FlatFender;n67294 said:
The idea is for it to stay inside the magazine. After consulting some friends I think I'm onto something, just need to play with the idea a little more. The molds I made were unnecessary, I carved a piece of pine into the right shape in about 15minutes that's working as a prototype.
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Ah. This sounded like you wanted to extract the cured resin. LOL

FlatFender;n66792 said:
Took two junk mags that I was going to toss in the trash and filled one completely with fiberglass resin, and the other with 10 dummy rounds, and then poured in the fiberglass resin.

I'll try extracting the cured resin tomorrow and see what I've got.
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trcubed;n67340 said:
Ah. This sounded like you wanted to extract the cured resin. LOL

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I do want to extract it, and have it so it'll move up and down on a spring, just like 10 dummy rounds in a magazine do.
 
Do you need the dummy rounds to be removable or would a solid cast replica of a loaded mag work? One that is correct size & weight as a real one.
 
Gazengine;n68705 said:
Do you need the dummy rounds to be removable or would a solid cast replica of a loaded mag work? One that is correct size & weight as a real one.
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There are lots of weighted drone mags on the market, but that's not any good for my use case.
 
Problem is readily solved by making an extra 100 dummy rounds.
 
JimB;n92517 said:
Problem is readily solved by making an extra 100 dummy rounds.
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Actually no, because they still fly out when dropped on the garage floor.

the problem was solved with Gorilla tape though.
 
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